Fremantle and Archery Pictures have announced they will co-develop and co-produce new drama series inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ arch nemesis, Professor James Moriarty.
We are collaborating with Archery Pictures (Is This Thing On?, Riviera, Fate: The Winx Saga), the production company from BAFTA nominated producer Kris Thykier, on a new original drama Moriarty (w/t).
Inspired by Professor James Moriarty – the fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be a formidable enemy and arch nemesis to Sherlock Holmes – Moriarty (w/t) is a modern reinvention of the crime procedural, based on the most famous villain in all of detective fiction. James Moriarty is a Professor of Criminal Psychology at Durham University but leads a secret double life as the mastermind behind every crime of sophistication in the North of England. When a rival criminal begins an assault on his underground empire, Moriarty will have only one choice: to join the police as a consultant, using the law as a weapon to dismantle his foe while keeping his true identity hidden from the police.
Paired with Detective Imogen Burrows, a stoic Yorkshire detective, they’ll form a fearsome team, but Moriarty will soon realise that the real threat isn’t the rival criminal faction he’s dismantling, but Imogen’s increasingly perceptive suspicions…
Kris Thykier, Founder, Archery Pictures said: “We are thrilled to be working with Fremantle to bring to life the original and character driven spin off from the Sherlock Holmes universe that Chris Cornwell has created. Moriarty (w/t) will show audiences what it takes to be a criminal genius, combining genre thrills with a playful, dark, and thrilling dive into the psychology of villainy.”
Rebecca Dundon, SVP Scripted Content at Fremantle said: “We’ve been looking for a project to work with Archery on for a while and when Kris brought this to us, we instantly saw huge potential for a commercial, returning franchise that brings to life one of the more allusive characters in the Sherlock world: Moriarty. It’s exciting to collaborate with Kris and the team at Archery to bring a premium, propulsive, contemporary drama to screen that will not only be clever and hooky, but also give us a fresh spin on the procedural crime format with an unconventionally brilliant protagonist at the heart who will constantly surprise and frustrate viewers in a highly entertaining manner!”
Moriarty is written by Chris Cornwell (A Discovery of Witches, Strike Back) and Oliver Lansley (Where’s Wanda?, Flack), while Archery Pictures and Fremantle will co-produce.
This partnership is one of several creative collaborations and development deals that we have forged with world-class talent including Kristen Stewart’s Nevermind Pictures, two-time Academy Award winning Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s Fruit Tree, BAFTA-winning Me+You Productions, Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula, Luca Guadagnino, Paolo Sorrentino, Rachel Weisz and Polly Stokes’ Astral Projection, Edward Berger and his label Nine Hours, Johan Renck and Michael Parets’ Sinestra.
